From forced drinking and singing to dishwashing, one-third of workers report bullying at work

A recent survey released Sunday showed that 33 percent of office workers in South Korea experienced workplace bullying in the past year, but over half of them said they did nothing to address the issue.

It was found that 330 of the 1,000 surveyed individuals experienced varying levels of workplace bullying. This included insults and belittling (17.8 percent), being forced to participate in dinners, drinking and other non-work-related activities (15.4 percent), and being told to run personal errands or forced to work night shifts (16.4 percent).

The survey was commissioned by the civic group Workplace Gabjil 119 and conducted by local pollster Global Research, targeting 1,000 workers aged 19 and older.

In one case reported to the civic group, a company chair forced an employee to sing at a work dinner and told them to wash the dishes.

The survey indicated that workplace bullying is a serious issue, with 19.4 percent of respondents saying they had considered self-harm or even suicide due to harassment at work.

However, fewer than half of those bullied took any action in response to their mistreatment. Some 56.4 percent said they ignored the abuse or suppressed their anger, while 26.4 percent said they quit their jobs. Another 10.6 percent said they reported their case to company management or the labor union, while 4.5 percent reported it to the relevant government agency.